A man alleged to have provided the firearm used to kill Sergeant Matiu Ratana inside a Croydon police station was today being questioned by murder squad detectives.
Tributes continued to be made to Sgt Ratana, 54, who died in hospital after reportedly being blasted five times in the chest as he went to search a handcuffed suspect at around 2.30am on Friday.
The suspected gunman — named in reports as 23-year-old Louis De Zoysa — remains under armed guard in hospital in a critical condition with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
It is understood that a man was being checked in a Covid holding bay at the custody suite when he pulled out a revolver concealed in his underwear.
Investigations continue to establish how the weapon was apparently missed following his stop-and-search arrest on suspicion of possessing Class B drugs and ammunition.
In the latest developments today:
- A man who was arrested in Norwich at 2am yesterday was being questioned on suspicion of supplying a firearm linked to the killing.
- Forensic searches continued at De Zoysa’s £700,000 family home in Southbrook Road, Norbury.
- Specialist officers stood guard outside a former Second World War ammunitions dump on farmland in Banstead, Surrey. Neighbours there reported an explosion in the early hours as armed police blew the doors off a barn.
It comes after a weekend of mourning as former colleagues, friends and rugby club team-mates of Sgt Ratana paid tribute. Originally from New Zealand, he served with the Metropolitan Police officer for almost 30 years and was described as an “irreplaceable figure”.
He was also head coach at East Grinstead Rugby Club. Fiends and teammates gathered in silence at a makeshift memorial at the ground.
